Secret plans for $1million Pisasale welcome statue

INSPIRATION: Tom Mason’s image of Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has been sent to a leading Australian sculptor to use as a design template for a five-metre-tall statue of the mayor.Tom Mason TLM CONCEPTS

JUST when you thought Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale couldn't get any bigger comes the news that a five-metre tall statue of him is on the drawing board.

While nothing is official, a councillor has broken ranks to leak the word that leading Melbourne sculptor Eric Von Easel has been asked to provide a design and quote for a Pisasale statue.

It's understood the statue will be positioned at the Fiveways intersection on the approach into the CBD.

The councillor said he had revealed the news because he couldn't endorse more than $1 million being spent on a bronze statue of the mayor.

"Yes I know he has been leading the way, but really we could do so much more with that sort of money," he said.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the statue idea was first put up by former mayoral candidate Peter Luxton.

It's understood he wrote a 10-page letter of endorsement for Pisasale, insisting that the mayor's face should be seen welcoming all visitors into the heart of Ipswich.

Some councillors weren't so taken with the idea and the vote to go ahead with quotes and designs was a close call.

So close was the vote, the mayor had to use his casting vote to approve the project.

Mr Von Easel said he realised the project would be controversial, but it was now fitting that all could be revealed on April 1, a day when some strange happenings always occur.